The World Diamond Congress is a bi-annual industry event organized by World Federation of Diamond Bourses and the International Diamond Manufacturers Association. The first World Diamond Congress was held in Antwerpen, Belgium in 1947. It was held annually till 1956 and since then - every two years. Every year in between the World Federation of Diamond Bourses and the International Diamond Manufacturers Association hold their Presidents' Meeting. Last 36th Congress was held in 2014 in Antwerpen, Belgium. Next, 37th Congress will take place in Dubai in May 2016.
Previous Congresses:
Antwerp Province is the northernmost province both of the Flemish Region, also called Flanders, and of Belgium. It borders on the North Brabant province of the Netherlands to the north and the Belgian provinces of Limburg, Flemish Brabant and East Flanders. Its capital is Antwerp, which includes the Port of Antwerp, the second-largest seaport in Europe. It has an area of 2,876 km2 (1,110 sq mi), and with over 1.85 million inhabitants as of January 2019, is the country's most populous province. The province consists of three arrondissements: Antwerp, Mechelen and Turnhout. The eastern part of the province comprises the main part of the Campine region.
The World Diamond Council is an organization representing the entire diamond value chain including representatives from diamond mining, manufacturing, trading and retail. The Council was established in July 2000. The purpose was to create a system to keep the supply chain of diamonds as free as possible from conflict diamonds.
The World Federation of Diamond Bourses, founded in 1947, was created to provide bourses trading in rough and polished diamonds and precious stones with a common set of trading practices. It is composed of 30 member diamond bourses. Their headquarters are in Antwerp. Members of The World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) act as a medium for wholesale diamond exchange, trading both polished and rough diamonds. The WFDB consists of independent diamond bourses in major centers of the diamond trade such as Tel Aviv, Antwerp, Mumbai, Johannesburg, London and New York and other cities across the USA, Europe and Asia. The WFDB provides a legal framework and convenes to enact regulations for its members. The following is a list of the 30 bourses.
The World Association of Chefs' Societies (WACS), is a global network of chefs associations first founded in October 1928 at the Sorbonne in Paris. At that first congress there were 65 delegates from 17 countries, representing 36 national and international associations, and the venerable August Escoffier was named the first Honorary President of WACS. Today, this global body has 72 official chefs associations as members. The biennial congress is a hallmark tradition of WACS and has been organized in over 20 cities across the world throughout its illustrious 74-year history, WACS is managed by an elected presidential body consisting of the WACS president, vice president, treasurer, secretary general and ambassador honorary president, as well as a board of continental directors that look after the regions of Asia, Europe, Africa, the Pacific and the Americas. A separate committee manages all culinary competition-related affairs.
The 2nd Maccabiah, aka the Aliyah Olympics, which was held in April 1935, was the second edition of the Maccabiah Games. The games were held despite official opposition by the British Mandatory government. A total of 28 countries were represented by 1,350 athletes.
Ahuva Sherman is an Israeli artist who works in oil, pastel, and wall tapestries.
Michael Gitlin is a contemporary sculptor.
The Antwerp Diamond Bank (ADB) was a small, 75-year-old bank that specialized exclusively in serving the diamond and the diamond jewelry sector. In addition to its headquarters in Antwerp, it had offices covering all the major traditional as well as emerging diamond centers such as Antwerp, Dubai, Geneva, Hong Kong, Mumbai and New York. ADB became currently a wholly owned subsidiary of KBC Bank, however, European Competition Commission directed KBC to divest the bank as part of the terms of the Belgian government's bail-out of KBC.
E. Isaac Mostovicz is a consulting academic in the fields of luxury marketing and the diamond industry. He has published on the topic of luxury and human logic and is the developer of the Lambda and Theta Worldview identification metrics and the philosophy behind it that he calls Janus Thinking or Human Logic.
Antwerp's diamond district, also known as the Diamond Quarter (Diamantkwartier), and dubbed the Square Mile, is an area within the city of Antwerp, Belgium. It consists of several square blocks covering an area of about one square mile. While as of 2012, much of the gem cutting and polishing work historically done in the neighborhood had moved to low wage centers elsewhere, about 84% of the world's rough diamonds passed through the district, making it the largest diamond district in the world with a turnover of 54 billion dollars. Each year, approximately 50% of the rough diamonds return to Antwerp for cutting and polishing.
Antwerp is the largest city in Belgium by area at 204.51 square kilometres (78.96 sq mi) and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, it is the most populous city center in Belgium, and with a metropolitan population of around 1,200,000 people, it is the second-largest metropolitan region after Brussels.
Moshe Schnitzer was a Romanian Jewish immigrant to Israel who became a key player in the international diamond trade. From 1967 to 1993 he was President of the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE), which became the world's largest diamond exchange.
The following is a timeline of the history of the municipality of Antwerp, Belgium.
Shmuel Schnitzer, Atty. is an Israeli diamond trader and chairman of S. Schnitzer Diamonds Ltd. Schnitzer served as president of the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) from 1998 to 2004 and from 2013 to 2015, and after serving in this position, he was awarded the title of Lifelong Honorary President of the Israel Diamond Exchange. Shmuel Schnitzer was president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) from 2002 to 2006, and after his resignation, he was awarded the title of Honorary Life President of the WFDB. In addition, Shmuel Schnitzer holds a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York Diamond Dealers Club (DDC) and is honorary president of the Israel Precious Stones & Diamonds Exchange.
Yeshayau Sheinfeld (Scheinfeld) (1909–1979) was an Israeli painter and industrialist.
Israel Beck (1891–1972) was a founding member of the Antwerpsche Diamantkring, the world's largest and first-ever diamond bourse to be dedicated to rough diamonds trade. He was President of the Board from 1961 until his death in 1972. By that time, he had served benevolently 43 years as a member of the Board, promoting diamond trade internationally and the Antwerp diamond industry in particular, and representing the Antwerpsche Diamantkring at the World Diamond Congress.
Eli Izhakoff is an American businessman in the international diamond and jewelry industry, filling a variety of public positions since 1979.
Servet Kocyigit is a visual artist based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
The bourse of Antwerp was the world's first purpose-built commodity exchange. Falling into disuse in the 17th century, from 1872 until 1997 the restored building housed the Antwerp Stock Exchange. After further restoration, the building is now part of an events venue that goes by the English name Antwerp Trade Fair. The Royal Exchange, London was modelled on the Antwerp Exchange.